Posted on 05/19/2006 7:56:19 AM PDT by kellynla
In the last year, ever since Tom DeLay became embroiled in the Jack Abramoff scandal, the Washington Post alone has published 168 articles mentioning Abramoff and DeLay. The Post's dogged Abramoff investigator, Susan Schmidt, has written 39 articles on Jack Abramoff in the last two years. Almost half of those made page A1 of the Post, and most were over 1,000 words in length. The Post has written enough about this scandal to fill a book -- literally -- and they probably will.
Since Rep. John Murtha made his splash in November with his call for an American troop withdrawal from Iraq, there have been no stories about Robert C. "Kit" Murtha in the Post. In fact, the Post has never mentioned Kit Murtha. A quick Lexis Nexis search turns up only a dozen or so mentions of "Kit" Murtha, Robert C. Murtha, or Robert Murtha in the last 15 years. Who is "Kit" Murtha?
He's John Murtha's brother -- a Washington lobbyist whose firm reeled in more than $20 million for its defense contractor clients in the 2004 Defense appropriations bill. And the Pennsylvania congressman is the ranking Democrat on the Defense appropriations subcommittee, which he also chaired for six years before Democrats lost the House in 1994.
It's a cozy relationship the likes of which are garnering heavy attention these days in Washington. Roy Blunt's family connections to K Street have received extensive coverage, as have Harry Reid's. Yet despite a front page story in the Los Angeles Times last June exposing Kit Murtha's firm's enormous success in steering defense contracts to its clients, other newspapers have been mostly silent: the Times has yet to follow up, and Murtha's lobbying ties have earned coverage by Roll Call and only single mentions in the Village Voice, Investor's Business Daily...
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
ping
Thanks kellynla.
FYI - Coop
Murtha was sitting quietly as ranking member of the appropriations committee, quietly directing funds to his brother Kit, then the papers started to find out about it.... then stories started appearing about the relationship between Kit and John Murtha and the appropriations winfalls...
AND THEN SUDDENLY... the stories STOPPED as john murtha started making anti-war statements and allegations.
could it be?
extortion?
Profiles in Corruption
Federal prosecutors designated him an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam investigation 26 years ago.
I was reminded of it after Murtha became a candidate for majority leader, not by a Republican hit man but a Democratic former colleague in the House.
In a long political career, Murtha has made bitter enemies inside his party who are alarmed by his new stature.
In 1980, the FBI named him as one of eight members of Congress videotaped being offered bribes by a phony Arab sheik.
The other seven targets took cash and were convicted in federal court.
The videotape showed Murtha declining to take cash but expressing interest in further negotiations, while bragging about his political influence.
Murtha testified against the popular Rep. Frank Thompson, which created lifelong enemies in the Democratic cloakroom.
The House Ethics Committee exonerated Murtha of misconduct charges by a largely party-line vote, after which the committee's special counsel resigned in protest."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak22.html
My future daughter-in-law has a little brother in Iraq right now, fighting honorably with the 101st Airborne. Kegan is part of the same group who was ambused last week, one killed immediately.. the other two brutally killed later. Kegan says that you never know who your enemy is in Iraq. He said the smiling little boy you befriend by day, may turn you in to enemies, marked for murder by night. War is hell. We should stand by and support all of our troops.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.